Rumors
by The Rose Phoenix
Summary: Walking home from a movie downtown, a young woman relates her story until a twist changes things. A short story only made for one chapter. Read and Rate.


A/N: My newest edition to my small collection of stories. I hope it's liked. I didn't do as well as I had hoped I would. Please enjoy and leave a review when your done. ^_^  
  
Rumors. Tales of dead people walking about. To me it sounded like something stupid from a B-rated horror movie. Like those are scary.  
  
I was walking to the nearest bus stop because I'd just left the movies. My friends were supposed to come, but once again they ditched me. Perhaps I should've just made new ones. The sun had gone down ages ago, but I could still see a bit of the sunset, not much though. It wasn't like I cared about it anyway. I hardly cared about anything.  
  
Except myself- and food.  
  
The ground looked kind of damp. Guess it rained during the movie. The wet concrete walkway made odd noises beneath my feet, just like always. It even had that strange glittering. You know, like someone decided concrete should have specks of silver and gold. Everything seemed normal, peachy keen. A couple of times, I'd looked around. It was pretty empty even though it was a Friday night. Usually people would be hanging around.  
  
I just kept walking, nothing better to do. I was nearly to the stop, when the bus came. It didn't stop, so I ran for it. I was surprised that the bus had kept going and even more so that people hadn't been waiting. Usually the punks hang around the stops.  
  
I stopped, gasping for breath, and stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jeans. Just my luck that I would be forced to walk ten miles to my house. I started again. I wasn't in a hurry now. I would've dropped into a bar, but they wouldn't serve a minor. I just trudged along, grimacing, once again wondering about my life. You know how that is.  
  
I turned a corner with my head down and smacked into someone. Suddenly, a smell of something rotten or dying made me hold my nose. I looked up to the person, or whatever it was.  
  
I couldn't help gasping. I know my eyes had doubled in size. The guy looked like he'd been attacked by a bear or something. He moaned and turned around slowly. He looked drunk. All I could do was stare, even when the guy started walking towards me. His eyes were all glassy, they even looked white. At first I thought he was just blind and dirt poor. I mean, he smelled really bad. But how could a bum survive what looked like a bear mauling?  
  
I backed up a step, but he lunged at me as if anticipating my move and knocked me to the ground. The guy attempted to bite me, as if he was some cannibal. I struggled with him for a while. I wasn't wearing a jacket, so the dampness from the walkway soaked through my thin shirt, chilling me. The blade of my forearm locked into the curved hollow of his neck and I held him a foot away from my face.  
  
The guy wouldn't give up. It took most of my strength just to hold him in place so he wouldn't bite me. The stench overwhelmed me and I gagged a few times. A strange, foreboding feeling came over me. I heaved forward and knocked the bum onto his back, then struggled quickly to stand.  
  
I didn't look back. The attack had shaken me badly. That's when it hit me. The awful stench, the rumors. Something clicked and I knew this must be a B- rated movie come true. I ran as much as I could back towards my house, pausing every so often to catch my breath and get my bearings.  
  
~~~~~  
  
I must have run for an hour; funny how I didn't run into anymore freaks. I was a block away from home and it seemed pitch black. Street lights lined the way at intervals of every other block. My block didn't have one, so it was even darker. I slowed down to a walk since I was so close now.  
  
I was quite tired from running so much, but I was still very anxious feeling from my ordeal. I reached the front stoop of the apartment building I lived in, but instead of going in, I stopped. Someone was sitting on the steps with their head down. It looked like my friend. You know the one, one of the friends supposed to meet me?  
  
I cautiously went up to her and kneeled in front of her. Usually, I would have told her to stop moping, but this wasn't a normal night. I reached out to touch her shoulder, but her head snapped up. I screamed once I saw her face. Or what was left of it. It seemed like she had spilt coffee on her face, then rubbed it with raw meat and let rabid skunks eat her away, as fucked up as it sounds. I started to pull away, but she caught me by the wrist and sunk her teeth into the fleshy part of my hand.  
  
I cried out from the sharp tinge of pain and slammed my free hand into her face. The fist collided and she fell back, smacking her head on the edge of a step. I pulled away and held my injured hand to my chest. I bit my lip to keep my mind off the pain. My friend had stopped moving. I think she was dead. I felt no remorse. Friends bit, literally. Instead, I hurried inside and up to my apartment. I opened the door and looked in. I called out to my mother, but I didn't get a response.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Night was in full bloom outside. Must've been at least 9 o'clock. I was sitting on my bed with a metal baseball bat lying next to me. The front door was locked and bolted. I even took the liberty of sticking a chair at the door to prevent it being shoved open. I had wrapped my hand with some bandages and an Ace wrap I had found. The bleeding stopped a while before, but the bandages were stained a disgusting crimson.  
  
I stood up and went to my window. It looked out over the street in front of my building. I gazed around slowly. Everything seemed fine, normal, even though it wasn't. I heard strange moaning, kind of like that guy's from earlier. A tickling breeze blew across me and I shuddered. I had left the window open so I could hear. I wanted to know when someone still human came by. If they came by. I went back to my bed.  
  
The minutes were crawling by. Only twenty or so had gone by, but it felt like hours upon hours. A loud boom echoed through the street, followed by another. It had to be gunshots, which meant only one thing. I raced back to the window and leaned out, scanning the street quickly.  
  
Someone started running at one end. It looked like a woman, then someone else followed, obviously a man. They made their way down the street. I waited until the were close enough, then I called down to them. The guy looked up and I waved down to him. They had guns, and they knew what they were doing. The woman looked up as well, and then looked to the guy. The guy nodded and they started for the entrance.  
  
I sighed with relief, I wasn't the only one. Grabbing the bat in my uninjured hand, I started out into the hall and to the front door. I removed the chair and unlocked the door and dead bolt. I moved my hand to open the door and suddenly felt a rush of dizziness. My mind started swirling, but stopped just as quickly as it had begun. Off and on I had been getting similar fits, but I kept thinking it was just anxiety.  
  
I moved into the hall, bat in hand. My heart was pounding and I suddenly felt itchy. This alarmed me, but other things seemed much more worrisome. I made my way down the hall to the elevator and pressed the call button. No sense in making things go slowly.  
  
I suppose I just should have waited. I mean, I couldn't do much with just a bat. When the elevator neared my floor, I heard thundering on the stairs. I turned towards the emerging figures just when the elevator doors slid open. The man called out urgently and the woman gasped. Everything seemed to go in slow motion after that.  
  
I turned my head and stared into the elevator. Before I could utter a sound, I was snatched by three hands. I looked down at the hands and noticed with disgust that one looked as if it had been dipped in acid. I was pulled toward the mass of monsters and I managed a short scream. The others came to my aid, but it was already too late.  
  
I had dropped my only weapon. I was defenseless. I cried out as teeth sunk into my arms and legs, even my sides. No matter what they did, the two couldn't get me out. I was being eaten alive. Soon, the pain became unbearable and I started to go numb. I suppose it was shock.  
  
Things faded and I was facing a black oblivion. I welcomed it eagerly with open arms as my consciousness receded. Death was bliss compared to battling monsters that used to be people.  
  
I wonder if there's an after life... 


End file.
